Expedition & Wilderness Medicine

To take advantage of the World Extreme Medicine Expo early bird offer use discount code WEMEEARLYBIRD30 at the checkout.

Response to the Paris attacks

The medical response to multisite terrorist attacks in Paris reviews the coordinated effort from the emergency services and Assistance
Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris (APHP) .
The article offers the perspective of an Emergency Physician, Anaesthesiologist and a Trauma Surgeon, before offering a conclusion.

It’s clear no matter what the plan, it’s the people; doctors, nurses, emergency services, administrators, volunteers and many others, that enable a successful response.
View the FULL ARTICLE on the Lancet’s website.

Jobs and opportunities

The European Space Agency is once again looking for a doctor to join them for a year of research and experiments at the Concordia research station in Antarctica.
Click HERE to see the post on the ESA website.

Luangwa Safari Association Medical Fund need a doctor for 3-6 months to provide care for staff and guest in addition to providing care at Kakumbi Rural Health Centre.
Check out the full details HERE and to read a previous doctor’s blog written during her time in the role click HERE

Course pick

Mountain Medicine 2016 following another extremely successful course in Nepal trekking to Kala Patthar and Everest Base Camp.
The first piece of feedback we received told us “this was the most amazing trip I have been on” and it is comments like these we aim for and pride ourselves on.Pre-hospital Trauma Workshopswill continue throughout 2016. We focus on initial care around head injuries, chest injuries, traumatic cardiac arrest, blast and ballistic injuries. We’ll also touch on crew resource management and effective leadership on scene in the single and multi casualty scenarios.

“We treat athletes like NASA treats astronauts”.

Last month saw the launch of Vollebak, a new brand that aims to tackle the fundamental issues faced by extreme sports people.

Having lived through the highs and lows that come with racing and training in the world’s toughest environments, founders and adventure athletes Steve and Nick Tidball, started working on products and experiments to help athletes relax and survive.
Click HERE to find out more.

Really pleased we where about to help to the team from BBC Worldwide produce such an amazing piece on the this years Extreme Medicine Conference – next years conference promises to be even more ground-breaking; if your in the ‘know’ there are a limited number super priced early bird tickets available ….

As I sneak into the back of the main lecture hall, record-breaking polar explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes is in full flow – vividly describing the state of his companion’s frostbitten foot during an Arctic expedition. Fiennes details how a plate of rotten skin peeled away in his friend’s boot exposing the nerve ends. There are pictures. Even some of the hardened medics in the audience have to look away.

Sir Ranulph has travelled to the ends of the Earth to tackle the coldest, highest and most dangerous environments. Several times he has barely lived to tell the tale – suffering starvation, sickness and the loss of fingers to frostbite, some of which he amputated himself.

Extreme Medicine 2015 – the premier gathering of medical professionals working in the world’s most remote areas. Due to sponsorship support we are able to offer a significant limited time discount on entry for a limited period.

Come join us at the world’s largest gathering of medics working in the world’s most remote corners…

Central Hall, Parliament Square, London. 26-29 October 2015.

30% off entry for a limited time

Working in partnership with a generous sponsor is allowing us to offer a30% discounton the cost of Expo tickets* until 12.30UTC on 31 July. Simply visit theExpo page: www.extrememedicineexpo.com and enter the code:‘WEMEEXPO15SPECIAL30’ when registering to receive your discount. *T&C’s

Now in its fourth year, the World Extreme Medicine conference challenges thinking, builds bridges and shares new and more effective approaches to medical practice in the world’s most remote and austere locations.

The Extreme Medicine Conference is home to the world’s most adventurous doctors, medics and experts in remote, expedition and pre-hospital medicine. These global thought leaders have gathered to share universally relevant knowledge and experience, research and techniques in a stimulating, interactive and accessible forum. It is medicine that saves the lives of not only the single remote explorer but also entire populations devastated by natural and man made disasters.

Photographic Gallery

We are really pleased to be featuring the photographers MSF, WarChild, NASA and Rob Holden, on assignment for the UN at this year’s conference – each gallery will feature 20 images illustrating humanitarian medicine in action.

Hot off the press…

We spend our working lives building relationships with extraordinary individuals and organisations in the field of extreme medicine…

As a result, the quality of the speakers you’ll encounter at World Extreme Medicine & Expo is unparalleled. And they’ll be in London this October 26-29 to help you gain new skills, share their compelling insights and knowledge of the latest, proven-in-the-field medical techniques, and also to share their own inspiring stories.

Nott to be missed…

Known as the ‘Indiana Jones’ of surgery, Mr David Nott has worked in conflict zones for more than 20 years, and is renowned for both his compassion and his nerves of steel.

Good news for GoodSAM

News just in that the GoodSAM App co-created by Mr Mark Wilson – neurosurgeon and two-time World Extreme Medicine speaker – is set to feature on the BBC’s Trust Me, I’m a Doctor, later this year. The idea behind GoodSam is to get someone qualified on the scene within the first four to six minutes to manage the patient’s airways and improve survival rates. The app came about largely as a result of insights Wilson gained in his work as a pre-hospital care doctor with the London air ambulance service, and you can expect real-world insights aplenty from his talk.

The British Doctor on the Ebola front line

Just announced for this year’s event is Dr Javid Abdelmoneim, whose profile as a medic and a humanitarian went global after his work with MSF in Sierra Leone last year became the subject of a BBC Panorama programme. Dr Abdelmoneim went on to deliver a hugely well-received TedX talk, and his insights into the Ebola crisis are helping to change the approach to the crisis.

Snow forecast…

Also joining the line-up is Jon Snow, multi-award-winning journalist and Channel 4 news anchor for the last 25 years. Self-described as, “the most anti-establishment person [in the establishment] I know,” Snow is known for his intelligence, insight and strongly-held opinions on a range of humanitarian issues, and is never less than fascinating…

Thank you for reading our news!

If you require any further information on any of our courses or how you can get invovled please contact us.

Hot off the press…

We spend our working lives building relationships with extraordinary individuals and organisations in the field of extreme medicine…

As a result, the quality of the speakers you’ll encounter at World Extreme Medicine & Expo is unparalleled. And they’ll be in London this October 26-29 to help you gain new skills, share their compelling insights and knowledge of the latest, proven-in-the-field medical techniques, and also to share their own inspiring stories.

Nott to be missed…

Known as the ‘Indiana Jones’ of surgery, Mr David Nott has worked in conflict zones for more than 20 years, and is renowned for both his compassion and his nerves of steel.

Good news for GoodSAM

News just in that the GoodSAM App co-created by Mr Mark Wilson – neurosurgeon and two-time World Extreme Medicine speaker – is set to feature on the BBC’s Trust Me, I’m a Doctor, later this year. The idea behind GoodSam is to get someone qualified on the scene within the first four to six minutes to manage the patient’s airways and improve survival rates. The app came about largely as a result of insights Wilson gained in his work as a pre-hospital care doctor with the London air ambulance service, and you can expect real-world insights aplenty from his talk.

The British Doctor on the Ebola front line

Just announced for this year’s event is Dr Javid Abdelmoneim, whose profile as a medic and a humanitarian went global after his work with MSF in Sierra Leone last year became the subject of a BBC Panorama programme. Dr Abdelmoneim went on to deliver a hugely well-received TedX talk, and his insights into the Ebola crisis are helping to change the approach to the crisis.

Snow forecast…

Also joining the line-up is Jon Snow, multi-award-winning journalist and Channel 4 news anchor for the last 25 years. Self-described as, “the most anti-establishment person [in the establishment] I know,” Snow is known for his intelligence, insight and strongly-held opinions on a range of humanitarian issues, and is never less than fascinating…

Thank you for reading our news!

If you require any further information on any of our courses or how you can get invovled please contact us.

If you’re an adventurous doc & fancy yourself on TV, we have a fantastic role for you! Our friends at Remote Trauma require a doctor for an activity-based TV programme. Role starts in Feb 2015 for 7-10weeks filming in North Africa.

Television programme with high risk activities requires an adventurous doctor for 7-10 weeks. Filming begins February 2015 in North Africa. You’ll be working as part of a risk management team and the role may involve some on screen time.

Position available for a UK-doctor on an action based expedition television programme with high risk activities. The project is for 7-10 weeks in North Africa working as part of a risk management team. May involve some on screen appearance. Start date February 2015. Please email admin@remotetrauma.com for more information.

The Extreme Medicine Conference has always sought to be unique, challenging, exciting and thought provoking and this is year we have exceeded even our own very high expectations with representatives from NASA, MSF, Xtreme Everest, London HEMS, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency … the amazingly diverse list goes on..

Spaces are going quickly and student tickets are already wait listed so make sure you you get your ticket we recommend booking now..

Exhibitors include

MSF, Doctors without Borders, Royal Navy, International SOS, Frontiermedex, Xtreme Everest, London Air Ambulance and Expedition & Wilderness Medicine

Extreme Medicine 2014

Meet the world leaders in Pre Hospital Care, Disaster & Humanitarian and Remote Medicine at the Royal Society of Medicine in November.

Each day of the conference focuses on different aspects of Extreme Medicine. The first day covers Expedition & Wilderness; the second day was built around Pre-Hospital Medicine with days 3 and 4 covering Disaster Medicine and Extreme Medicine respectively.

We will be featuring speakers on Gaza and the Ebola Crisis in West Africa.

Pre Conference Workshop with London HEM’s

6-7th November 2014, Central London

Working with one of world’s leading air ambulance organisations, delivering advanced trauma team to critically injured people in London. It has an international reputation for clinical excellence, and delivers pioneering procedures that have been adopted across the world.

Open to all medical professionals and registered medical students.

Spaces are limited to first come first served and a significant portion of ticket fees goes to London Air Ambulance as a charity.

We are privileged and humbled by all the support that this years Extreme Medicine Conference is receiving. We are honoured that the London HEMS Team is joining us to offer a 2 pre conference Pre-Hospital Care Course – talk about learning from the best!!

6-7th November 2014, Central London

You don’t need to be coming to the conference to reserve a space by the way…

London’s Air Ambulance

London’s Air Ambulance is the charity that delivers an advanced trauma team to critically injured people in London. It has an international reputation for clinical excellence, and delivers pioneering procedures that have been adopted across the world. Find out more here…

Institute of Pre-Hospital Care

For twenty-five years, London’s Air Ambulance has been a leader in the development and practice of pre-hospital care. Through its research, innovation and education activities, as well as the professional affiliations and publications of its clinical leadership, it has influenced clinical guidelines, governance standards and the practice of numerous air ambulances, in the U.K. and abroad.

The Institute of Pre-Hospital Care at London’s Air Ambulance was founded in 2013 to build on and expand this influence. Its mission is to drive excellence in pre-hospital care standards and practice through research, innovation and education; and by fostering collaboration across medical disciplines and institutions dedicated to improving outcomes for people afflicted by critical injury and illness.

In 2014, The Institute created, and will deliver, the UK’s first undergraduate degree in pre-hospital medicine, in partnership with Queen Mary University of London.Find out more here…

London Air Ambulance

6-7th November 2014, Central London

London’s Air Ambulance is the charity that delivers an advanced trauma team to critically injured people in London.
The service provides pre-hospital medical care at the scene of the incident and serves the 10 million people who live, work and commute within the M25.

Based at The Royal London Hospital and founded in 1989, the service operates 24/7, with the helicopter running in daylight hours and rapid response cars taking over at night and in adverse weather conditions.

The team, which at all times includes an advanced trauma doctor and paramedic, perform advanced medical interventions, normally only found in the hospital Emergency Department, in time critical, life threatening situations. Missions commonly involve serious road traffic collisions, falls from height, industrial accidents, assaults and injuries on the rail network.

Extreme Medicine the film

2 Day Workshop Central London LONDON HEMS

6-7th November 2014, Central London

Join Extreme Medicine & London HEM’s team in unique learning experience. Set up as a pre conference workshop for the Extreme Medicine Conference but also bookable directly the workshop will bring you cutting edge learnings in the field of Pre-Hospital Care from an acknowledged world leader in the field.

Topics to include but not limited to; The role of a UK prehospital doctor in the international response to humanitarian disasters. Emergency thoracotomy – how to do it. Damage control anaesthesia – lessons from Afghanistan and London. Paramedic scene leadership during advanced prehospital interventions. The future in prehospital car; Nanorobots and suspended animation.

Open to all medical professionals and registered medical students. Spaces are limited to first come first served and a significant portion of ticket fees goes to London Air Ambulance as a charity.

Dr Anne Weaver is the Lead Clinician for the Pre-hospital Care Programme, in addition to being a Consultant in Emergency Medicine & Pre-hospital Care at The Royal London Hospital, and Lead Clinician for HEMS. Dr Weaver has years of experience in Pre-hospital Care in the UK and Australia, and has supported the Programme from the start. Dr Weaver organises the mentoring of the other medical students by the HEMS registrars.

As Lead Clinician for the London Air Ambulance, Dr Anne Weaver heads up a service that is on call for 11 million people in the capital. She and her team save lives on a daily basis through their critical intervention at the scene of an incident.

We are privileged and humbled by all the support that this years Extreme Medicine Conference is receiving. We are honoured that the London HEMS Team is joining us to offer a 2 pre conference Pre-Hospital Care Course – talk about learning from the best!!

6-7th November 2014, Central London

You don’t need to be coming to the conference to reserve a space by the way…

London’s Air Ambulance

London’s Air Ambulance is the charity that delivers an advanced trauma team to critically injured people in London. It has an international reputation for clinical excellence, and delivers pioneering procedures that have been adopted across the world. Find out more here…

Institute of Pre-Hospital Care

For twenty-five years, London’s Air Ambulance has been a leader in the development and practice of pre-hospital care. Through its research, innovation and education activities, as well as the professional affiliations and publications of its clinical leadership, it has influenced clinical guidelines, governance standards and the practice of numerous air ambulances, in the U.K. and abroad.

The Institute of Pre-Hospital Care at London’s Air Ambulance was founded in 2013 to build on and expand this influence. Its mission is to drive excellence in pre-hospital care standards and practice through research, innovation and education; and by fostering collaboration across medical disciplines and institutions dedicated to improving outcomes for people afflicted by critical injury and illness.

In 2014, The Institute created, and will deliver, the UK’s first undergraduate degree in pre-hospital medicine, in partnership with Queen Mary University of London.Find out more here…

London Air Ambulance

6-7th November 2014, Central London

London’s Air Ambulance is the charity that delivers an advanced trauma team to critically injured people in London.
The service provides pre-hospital medical care at the scene of the incident and serves the 10 million people who live, work and commute within the M25.

Based at The Royal London Hospital and founded in 1989, the service operates 24/7, with the helicopter running in daylight hours and rapid response cars taking over at night and in adverse weather conditions.

The team, which at all times includes an advanced trauma doctor and paramedic, perform advanced medical interventions, normally only found in the hospital Emergency Department, in time critical, life threatening situations. Missions commonly involve serious road traffic collisions, falls from height, industrial accidents, assaults and injuries on the rail network.

Extreme Medicine the film

2 Day Workshop Central London LONDON HEMS

6-7th November 2014, Central London

Join Extreme Medicine & London HEM’s team in unique learning experience. Set up as a pre conference workshop for the Extreme Medicine Conference but also bookable directly the workshop will bring you cutting edge learnings in the field of Pre-Hospital Care from an acknowledged world leader in the field.

Topics to include but not limited to; The role of a UK prehospital doctor in the international response to humanitarian disasters. Emergency thoracotomy – how to do it. Damage control anaesthesia – lessons from Afghanistan and London. Paramedic scene leadership during advanced prehospital interventions. The future in prehospital car; Nanorobots and suspended animation.

Open to all medical professionals and registered medical students. Spaces are limited to first come first served and a significant portion of ticket fees goes to London Air Ambulance as a charity.

Dr Anne Weaver is the Lead Clinician for the Pre-hospital Care Programme, in addition to being a Consultant in Emergency Medicine & Pre-hospital Care at The Royal London Hospital, and Lead Clinician for HEMS. Dr Weaver has years of experience in Pre-hospital Care in the UK and Australia, and has supported the Programme from the start. Dr Weaver organises the mentoring of the other medical students by the HEMS registrars.

As Lead Clinician for the London Air Ambulance, Dr Anne Weaver heads up a service that is on call for 11 million people in the capital. She and her team save lives on a daily basis through their critical intervention at the scene of an incident.

Head Medical are recruiting on behalf of the world’s leading international healthcare and medical services company.

Our client is responsible for providing onsite primary and emergency medical assistance to the employees of many varied industries, including oil, gas and mining organisations in PNG. Located in the south-western Pacific Ocean, PNG is one of the most challenging, culturally diverse and exotic countries in the world.

The role of these locum positions is to care for Asylum seekers, we have one position available in Manus Island and one available in Nauru Island.

Manus Island 15th May (or ASAP) to 16th June | Nauru Island 23rd May to 4th July

Desired Skills and Experience

· Physician ER experience

· European US/UK/Australian training/experience

· Experience of providing primary care within a remote environment

Manus Island-You will be required to possess ACLS, ATLS is also desirable

Nauru Island-You will be required to possess PALS, ACLS and ATLS is also desirable

Competitive daily rate on offer. All onsite accommodation, food, facilities will be paid for and we will coordinate all flights/ transport per rotation.

The world famous London Air Ambulance team will be joining the Extreme Medicine Conference in 2014 not only as highlighted speakers during the main conference but also partnering to deliver a pre conference trauma workshop.

London’s Air Ambulance features in BBC Two – An Hour To Save Your Life (#AHTSYL) – 3-part series starting 4th March, 9pm

This new series looks at innovations in emergency medicine and the improvements in patient outcomes as a result of doctor-led pre-hospital care and fast-tracking heart attack/cardiac arrest, stroke and trauma patients to specialist centres.

It was filmed over the summer of 2013, spending two months with London’s Air Ambulance including with our Physician Response Unit (PRU), a medical emergency fast response team who are tasked to out-of-hospital cardiac arrest patients, at The Royal London and London Chest Hospitals and with the London Ambulance Service. Filming also took place in Nottingham and Birmingham.

Across the three programmes, nine patient stories are featured, five of these are involving London’s Air Ambulance in the pre-hospital phase. The key clinicians involved in each patient case conducted in-depth retrospective interviews so the style of the programmes is very much clinicians taking the audience through what happens.

GP Dr Theo Weston has been appointed MBE for services to victims of trauma in Cumbria. Theo who has recently joined the Executive Council of BASICS also flies with the North West Air Ambulance. He set up the BEEP Fund (Birbeck Emergency Equipment for Patients) in 1994 that has raised more than £400,000 to buy equipment needed for doctors providing prehospital emergency care throughout the North East.Theo said said:

“It’s a huge honour and a big surprise – I never dreamt I would be worthy of such a prestigious honour but I’m absolutely delighted. I also want to give credit to all the others who have supported me over the last 20 years, allowing me to do this kind of work. In particular my family have been so supportive, allowing me to drop things at the drop of a hat.”

Theo was one of the original founding faculty for the gold-standard Expedition Medicine course based just outside of Keswick.
http://www.expeditionmedicine.co.uk/index.php/products/events/-/pt-0010.html

As a pre conference workshop to the main Extreme Medicine Conference, hosted at Harvard Medical School, Expedition & Wilderness Medicine organised along with our partners at Harvard a really very realistic workshop to focus on the challenges of mass casualties in disaster area – more from CBS….

Terror simulation draws lessons from Boston Marathon, past disasters

OTIS AIR NATIONAL GUARD BASE, Mass. — First responders need to be ready for anything, whether it’s a massive natural disaster or a terrorist attack.

Few know that like the emergency physicians training in Harvard’s Disaster Medicine/Emergency Management Fellowship. Two weeks ago, five of the Harvard fellows were dispatched to the Philippines to respond to Typhoon Haiyan. Just a few weeks earlier, the Harvard fellows were hosting a major terror simulation that drew lessons from the Boston Marathon bombing and other past, man-made disasters.

“The unique thing about disaster response that makes it different from almost everything else is the fact that you’re responding to a unique event — every disaster is unique, in nature and both modality and scenario and environment in which it happens,” Greg Ciottone, the director of the Harvard program, told CBSNews.com.

Ciottone was a commander of one of the first federal disaster teams on the scene at Ground Zero after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. While no one can predict the scenarios where first responders will be needed, disaster simulations are still crucial, he said.

“We’re forced to respond using a multitude of agencies and personnel that don’t normally work together,” he said, “so what you don’t want to have happen is have all these different agencies come together for the first time in a real live disaster event, and that’s why we conduct these drills as often as we can.”

Disaster simulations are common in the post 9/11 era, but the one that Ciottone and his team conducted at the Otis Air National Guard Base in Massachusetts was unique in its size and scope. The Harvard event brought together the National Guard, the Cambridge Police, the Massachusetts Reserve Corps, paramedics, ER physicians and others. It was coordinated to coincide with the Second Annual International Extreme Medicine Expo — hosted this year in Boston — so the participants and observers came from around the world.

The event started by applying makeup — in this case, called moulage — to 92 volunteers pretending to be victims. Kathy Cardeiro, a retired nurse from Bourne, Mass., joined the Massachusetts Reserve Corps (MRC) a couple of years ago, but the volunteer work has meant more to her since the Marathon bombing.

“I think we’ve probably learned a lot from that, how to cope and also learned a lot that people in general all want to help, whether they’re MRC, there are a lot of people that step out, and step up,” she said.

Ciottone and his team created a scenario that started with a lone shooter — a scene now all too common in the U.S. Police arrived to find more than a dozen injured. Paramedics started to arrive, but the scene was complicated by a second incident — a bomb exploding.

This kind of second attack — typically designed to target first responders — has become a common tactic around the world. It may have been what the Boston bombers intended to do with their second device.

After the explosion, there were dozens of more victims to treat, and seven of the first responders were “killed.” The remaining responders — who were not told ahead of time what the scenario would be — suddenly had to reassess the situation and shift their priorities.

“It started off almost textbookish in terms of the initial wave of responders doing their job appropriately, then it broke down a little bit when we lost that first group of responders,” said Jonathan Siegel, a paramedic and supervisor with Cataldo Ambulance Service who participated in the simulation. “The next group of responders came in and were not able to recognize that the command and control roles needed to be backfilled in order for the rest of this to run smoothly.”

After the event, Ciottone explained that the first responders spent too much time triaging and assessing each potential victim — typically the right move — except in a case like this, where quick, immediate action like applying a tourniquet can save lives. In fact, tourniquets were only recently added as standard equipment for Boston EMS, but they proved crucial on April 15.

“The amputations — we saw them the Boston Marathon,” Ciottone explained to the event participants. “The reason that only people two or three killed at the Boston Marathon were from the bombing itself and nobody else was killed, despite the fact there were 30 to 40 life threatening injuries… people jumped quickly with those tourniquets.”

Knowing when to stop to triage a victim is stressful enough, but first responders also have to think about logistics. With dozens of victims down, several ambulances were called to the scene. Ciottone explained after the fact that the scene was inspired by the 1990 Avianca plane crash, when ambulances approached the Long Island, New York crash scene on a narrow road. Once they were there, the ambulances were stuck in a bottleneck.

“We did put a couple obstacles there, they were the blasted out ambulances from the first responders,” he said. “But what we were hoping was you would actually complete that circle, realize that someone needs to get out and help maneuver and move around those obstacles. Instead, what was done, the ambulances came up and made their own route a different way, which had some pluses and minuses to it.”

In many ways, the drill went nothing like it was planned, said Mike Rubin, one of the Harvard fellows who helped organize the event — but that, in a sense, made it more realistic.

“There’s no definite protocol to follow, so you have to reinvent the wheel with every disaster to accommodate the factors,” Rubin said. “It requires some snap decisions and there’s no time to question whether you’re doing the right thing or not.”

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